BY SILAS NKALA
BULAWAYO councillors have expressed concern over double allocation of stands at Cowdray Park’s Hlalani Kuhle/Garikai housing scheme, where about 41 duplicate forms were approved.
In the latest Bulawayo City Council (BCC) minutes, councillors said the issue had taken long to be resolved.
The minutes stated that 666 forms had been processed on the waiting list for May 2021.
“Also, 41 duplicate forms were approved in May 2021 and 539 renewal forms were processed. A total of 21 stands were resolved on double allocation. A variance of 20 was still being attended to,” the minutes read.
“The committee considered the matter and councillor Febbie Msipha enquired about the availability of residential stands. She also wanted to know how the residents were informed about the available residential stands.
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“The project was later handed over to council, and double allocations had been discovered. Council had managed to solve a number of double allocations. More continued to be discovered and council would soon finalise them.”
Council said double allocations had taken long to be resolved.
“The chamber secretary (Sikhangele Zhou) explained that residents should wait until their issues is finalised in court before submitting building plans,” the minutes said, adding that council had taken long to avail residential stands, an indication that the city was not growing.
“Pre-sale schemes should be investigated in order to improve residential stands provision. Some residents who had purchased stands through pre-sale schemes had not yet accessed their stands and are awaiting finalisation of court processes.”
Council also resolved that residents should be made aware that being on the housing waiting list was not a guarantee that one would get a stand.
Town clerk Christopher Dube advised that some residents had renewed their waiting list forms for more than 20 years without acquiring residential stands.
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